Down the Ballot

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Star Trek Continues in Great Trek Tradition

Over Memorial Day weekend I sat down to watch the first installment of Star Trek Continues by Farragut Films. Let's talk about 'fan films' first. Fan film's are basically groups of fans that attempt to produce (note the attempt part; sometimes these loose groups of fans are overly ambitious in their goals and fizzle out) quality stories for release on the internet. Depending on the quality of fan film will determine on the group of fans producing. Some groups have vastly different resources than others. Still, the goal is to tell a story that is in keeping with their source inspiration.

Star Trek Continues centers around the journeys of the U.S.S. Enterprise as if the series never ended at the end of the third season. It picks right up where we left Kirk and company back in 1969. There is even a short video revisiting the events of Turnabout Intruder. From a story telling standpoint this seems like a natural place to pick up the start of a fan series.

The first story brought to life by the STC crew is Pilgrim Of Eternity. It is a story that centers around Apollo from Gene Coon's and Gilbert Ralston's script "Who Mourns for Adonais?Micheal Forest reprises his portrayal of Apollo 46 years after his apperance from the second season of the original series. In POE, we are shown an aged greek god that has outlived all his brothers and sisters. He tells the crew of the Enterprise that he was wrong about his realm being safe. All he wants know is to find someplace to live out the remainder of his life.

It is a great wrap up to a classic Trek episode. The only confusing part of the website seems to be Dr. McCoy. Photos like the above show actor Chuck Huber and the only episode aired features actor Larry Nemecek as McCoy. Overall, I liked the episode, it had the feel you needed for a Star Trek story. This first outing of the crew of Enterprise promises much from this fan run production.

The main cast consists of Vic Mignogna, Todd Haberkorn, Larry Nemecek, Chris Doohan, Grant Imahara, Kim Stinger and Wyatt Lenhar. There are also a full cast of extras and as Michael Forest shows going to be special guest stars. Chris Doohan was most recently in Star Trek Into Darkness and in this series portrays Mr. Scott, who his father had portrayed for 40 years in television, radio and film. Mignogna does one of the best Kirk's I've seen from a fan series. From a distance you might even be fooled into thinking Vic is Shatner from the late 60s. Kim Stinger was able to get a song in during the first episode, that was a really great scene with her and Forest. Special effects are top notch as fan films go. Doug Drexler even finds his way into the episode.

Aside from the confusion surrounding the Dr. McCoy character, my only real complaint was with the B-story, if you can call it a B-story. Apollo takes up much of the episode and it really doesn't leave a lot of room for the B-story to ever get off the ground. It sorta just seems like it was put in to divide Kirk's attention away from focusing on the god before him. It needed a little more presence and explanation. That was always the great weakness of Kirk and his strength. He was always worried about his ship.

All in all, a strong start. I hope it is the beginning of a beautiful friendship between STC and fans everywhere.